The Journal
by Nutella Swirl
Summary: Sequel to "Alone." Shredder wants his revenge on the turtles for everything they have done to ruin his plans and for Mikey running away. It starts with an ordinary looking journal, which is really nothing what it looks like. The turtles are dumped into an unknown land. They must find a way back home before the perils that await them finish them all.
1. The Journal

**I do not own TMNT.**

**A/N: This is the sequel to my story "Alone." I recommend reading that first before reading this one! **

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><p>It was a bright, cool summer day. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze in the air. The occupants of New York City were enjoying the weather, talking gaily and playing with water balloons, having no other care in the world.<p>

However, things weren't so bright in the Foot Headquarters.

"I want those turtles finished _**NOW**_! Especially that turtle, Michelangelo, who _dared_ to turn traitor!" Shredder yelled to a foot ninja that was standing by Shredder for no apparent reason.

"But Master, we are no match for the turtles," the foot ninja said.

"Then go train and become better ninjas so they are no match for _YOU_!" Shredder snapped.

"But Master, that will take a while," the foot ninja said, oblivious to the anger in Shredder's voice.

Shredder glared at the foot ninja. "Then use the weapon that seems harmless but creates the most damage done!"

"Y-yes, Master," the foot ninja faltered before leaving.

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><p>Meanwhile, the turtles were having their nightly patrol.<p>

"So far we haven't even run into _any_ bad guys," Raph, the hotheaded turtle grumbled.

"I guess no one's in the mood to commit any crimes today," Donnie replied.

"You mean to_night_," Mikey corrected. "We only go topside at night, not day time!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Donnie muttered. He hated being corrected, especially since he was the brains of the bunch.

"Looks like there's no crimes for tonight," Leo said, scanning the city. "Who's up for a race?"

"Me!" Mikey jumped excitedly. "There's no way you dudes can beat me!"

"If you keep bragging, you'll be the loser, bonehead," Raph said as they all began to race, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Mikey was soon in the lead with Donnie the last, as usual. Raph and Leo both tied second.

"Can't believe I lost to shell-for-brains _again_," Raph mumbled. No one heard him, though.

"Guess it's time to go home," Leo said. The turtles started leaping over the rooftops again, looking for the nearest manhole to return to the lair.

They had only jumped four buildings before Leo told them to stop. "Shh, someone's watching us," he whispered, his eyes darting around to see who was there.

"I hope it means trouble. Then we can kick their shells," Raph said. He had spoken too loud, though. A group of shadowy creatures gracefully landed onto the rooftop the turtles were on.

"The Foot ninjas!" Leo recognized. The four green brothers began to fight the ninjas. However, they were tired and worn out from the race they had earlier, so they didn't do so well.

Leo could feel his eyes drooping as he dodged swords and shurikens flying past him. How much longer would they have to fight them?

As if reading his thoughts, the foot ninjas disappeared. All they left behind was a small, brown journal.

"Hey, check this out," Mikey said picking up the journal.

"Mikey, put that down!" Leo hissed. "It's from the Foot, so it's probably dangerous."

"_A_ _journal_ dangerous? That's crazy! This could be really helpful! It might have Shredder's newest plans inside!" Mikey argued. His hand reached the corner of the journal, getting ready to open it.

"Mikey, don't-" Leo was too late. Mikey had opened the journal. Leo held his breath, expecting something to happen.

Mikey laughed. "See Leo? Told ya it was harmless!" He flipped through the pages, only to find them blank. "Aww, I thought there would be at least _something_ in here..."

Mikey reached the last page. "Woah, look at this!" He showed his brothers a picture of a waterfall surrounded by flowers, trees, and lots of animals. It looked very realistic.

"Woah," Donnie breathed. "It almost looks like-"

He was interrupted by a roaring wind that picked up the turtles. The turtles struggle to escape it, but it was too strong. The wind flew away, taking the turtles with it before dumping them into an unknown place.

A foot ninja had seen all of this. "Master Shredder, the turtles have picked up the journal and activated its powers. There is no way they will survive the disasters it brings," he reported.

"Excellent," Shredder said, laughing his evil laugh.

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><p><strong>AN: Don't worry, this isn't the end! I'll try to add more chapters to this story soon :D Reviews are always welcome!**


	2. In A Story Book

Mikey opened his eyes. _Where was he? _

Mikey stood up examined his surroundings. He was in some kind of desert that wasn't really hot. It had lots of vegetation, which was surprising, considering he was in a desert.

Mikey turned around, finding his brothers sprawled out on the ground. Their chests heaving up and down indicated that they were breathing; just unconscious.

Mikey sat down and sighed. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. He figured he should wait until his brothers woke up, but he didn't know how long that would take.

"Mikey?"

Mikey jumped at the sudden sound, but calmed down when he saw who was awake. "Raph?"

Raph struggled to sit up. "Ugh, my head," he mumbled.

"Raph? Are you okay?" Mikey asked, concerned.

Raph summoned a smile for his little brother. "I'm fine, just a headache."

"Guys?"

"Donnie!" Mikey said happily, glad that the genius was awake.

Donnie frowned. "Leo's not awake yet?"

"That's weird, he always wakes up earlier than us to start training," Mikey said.

"Well, he must be tired from all that wakin' up early, so that must be why he's still sleepin'," Raph said.

"I'm hungry, did you bring any food Donnie?" Mikey asked.

Donnie dug through his bag. "Well, I do have some hot dogs and marshmallows from the last time we went camping..."

"MARSHMALLOWS!" Mikey yelled as he stuffed the white, sticky treats into his mouth.

"How are we gonna eat the hot dogs? They're not cooked," Raph said.

"Well, we can-" Donnie began, but he was interrupted by Mikey.

"LEO!" Mikey exclaimed, running to his big brother.

"Oh, hey Mikey," Leo said. He was using his right arm to help him stand up.

"AHHHH!" Leo cried out in pain. His arm had suddenly started hurting.

"Leo? You okay?" A concerned Donnie asked.

"I'm fine," Leo said.

"You sure?" Donnie said doubtfully.

"I'm _fine_," Leo insisted.

"Okay," Donnie said. He let Leo alone for now. He was going to keep an eye on him though, just in case.

"C'mon, Leo, have some food!" Mikey said, tossing the bag of marshmallows to Leo.

"Thanks," Leo said, catching the bag. He took some marshmallows, slightly wincing in pain as his right arm started to hurt again. He looked over it, just in case. "Seems okay..." he murmured to himself.

Donnie had seen Leo wince. "Leo, let me see your arm."

"I'm fine, Donnie, it's no big deal. It just hurts a little," Leo said.

"A_ little_? If it hurt only a little you wouldn't have screamed out in pain earlier," Donnie pointed out.

"Oh, fine," Leo sighed as he allowed Donnie to examine his arm.

_Nothing seems wrong_, Donnie thought to himself. He got his mini x-ray scanner that he had invented from his bag. He gasped, staring at what the scanner showed.

"Leo, your arm is fractured in two places! I don't understand how, unless you did something!" Donnie said.

"Well... I woke up first and saw a mutant wolf coming towards you guys. It fought me, so I fought back. The wolf made a tree fall on top of my arm. I managed to get myself free, but I was in so much pain that I blacked out," Leo finally said.

Donnie examined the injuries again. "You'll need a cast and a sling, Leo. You can't use your right arm at all. It needs rest."

Leo didn't reply. He just watched as Donnie wrapped up his arm and made him wear a sling.

"Donnie, is Leo okay?" Raph asked.

"Yeah, he just has a couple fractures," Donnie answered. "He can't use his right arm at all for a month or two though."

Shocked, Leo said, "A _month_? I can't use my arm for a _month_?"

Trying to calm his older brother down, Donnie said, "Leo, it's just a-"

"How am I supposed to fight? Or train?" Leo asked worriedly.

"Leo, you can use your left arm for that stuff. Now, eat!" Donnie ordered.

Leo glumly looked down at the marshmallows, eating them one by one. He wasn't really hungry anymore.

"Any water, Don?" Mikey asked.

"Here," Donnie handed a small water bottle to Mikey. "It's our only water bottle, so-"

"Oops," Mikey said as he accidentally spilled water everywhere.

"Mikey, that was our **_only_** water bottle! Where do you expect us to find more water in a **_desert_** like this?" Donnie said, angry.

"Chill, Donnie, this isn't exactly a desert! There's trees everywhere! I bet there's water somewhere here, too, like this!" Mikey showed Donnie a little pond hiding behind a few bushes.

"Well, that's a relief," Raph remarked as he watched Donnie fill up the water bottle with water.

"Mhm," Donnie said. Mikey grabbed the water bottle and began to drink from it. His eyes grew wide as he tasted it.

"Guys, this tastes like pizza!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Mikey, water does _not_ taste like pizza. Let me try it," Donnie said, drinking the water only to find Mikey was right.

"This is good," Raph said as he and Leo tried it.

"This _is_ safe water, right?" Leo said, looking at Donnie, who nodded.

Leo took of his sling and cast. "_What are you doing_?" Donnie asked, not happy.

Leo didn't answer. He just washed his arm with the pizza-flavored water. Then he used Donnie's mini x-ray scanner to see how his fracture was.

"Woah, my fracture is gone! This must be healing water!" Leo realized.

Donnie rushed to Leo's side. "Wow!" He couldn't help but think that something was off, though. Vegetation in a desert, mutant wolfs, and pizza-flavored healing water. It just didn't add up.

"Fee, fi, fo, fum," the four turtles heard. A giant was walking over to them!

Donnie suddenly realized why everything seemed weird. "Guys, we're in a story book!"


	3. Shredder?

The turtles ran in a nearby cave while the giant roamed the land. Each step he took seemed like a mini earthquake.

"What do you mean we're in a story book?" Raph asked Donnie.

Don explained, "Well, none of the things happening here could be real! Healing water, giants, a desert with tons of plants, all that kinda stuff would never happen on Earth..."

"You mean we're _not_ on Earth?" Mikey asked, who had actually been listening to his genius brother.

Donnie shrugged. "It depends... if the book is on Earth, we're still on Earth; otherwise, we're somewhere else. And also, some of the things happening come from real books, like the giant probably comes from _Jack and the Beanstalk_. That mutant wolf Leo saw might come from _The Three Little Pigs_."

"Well, what do we do now?" Raph asked.

"Ask Leo, he's the leader," Donnie answered simply.

"Hey Fearless! What do we-" Raph stopped. "Hey, where's Leo?"

Donnie frowned. "Didn't he come in the cave with us?"

Raph and Mikey shrugged. "LEO!" Mikey called as he peeked out the cave. He gasped, and immediately went back inside.

"What? What did ya see?" Raph asked. He figured it was nothing important; Mikey was the youngest so of course he got scared easily.

"Sh- Shredder... he was fighting Leo!" Mikey whispered.

"_SHREDDER_?" Raph and Donnie looked outside the cave, and saw that Mikey was telling the truth. Leo was dodging Shredder's attacks, but he looked awfully tired. He couldn't strike the enemy once whereas Shredder had struck the poor turtle many times.

In a blink of an eye, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey had gathered their weapons, ran out of the cave, and began to help Leo fight Shredder.

"I don't- get it- Donnie," Raph said between kicking Shredder's hard armor and ducking just as Shredder was about to bring his blades down on him. "If we're in- a story book- how is Shredder- in it?"

"I don't know Raph, but- **_AHHHHHHH_**!" Donnie screamed as Shredder kicked him hard in the chest, sending him backwards and crashing into a tree trunk.

"You fools! You will _never_ defeat me!" Shredder said as he sent Mikey nearly flying in the air as he landed near Donnie.

Raph gritted his teeth. No one got away with hurting his brothers, especially not the villain who named himself after a device that tore up paper.

"Come on, Raph, let's do this," Leo said as he got ready to attack. He managed to land hard blows on his stomach and feet, with the help of his younger brother. Raph and Leo managed to sweep Shredder his feet, causing him to fall to the ground with a loud _thud__, _knocking his helmet off in the process. He looked up at the turtles, revealing his face filled with ugly scars and bruises.

Leo place his sword near Shredder's throat. "Let's end this!"

As quick as he could, he swiped his sword across Shredder's throat. His head rolled off the rest of his body and stopped near some flowering bushes.

Mikey, who had gotten up along with Donnie, was already celebrating. "We shredded Shredder! We shredded Shredder!"

Suddenly, a voice filled the air as the face of Shredder appeared in the air. "You fools! You have only defeated my clone. Defeating me will be much harder!"

Leo glanced at his sword. It was clean, without a single trace of blood or anything to show that Shredder was finished. "He's right," he said sadly. Then, more firmly, he said, "But we _will_ finish him one day! We _will_!"

The other turtles cheered along, especially Mikey.

"But first, we have to go home," Donnie pointed out.

"How? Mikey's the one who brought us here first place," Raph said, glaring at the orange-masked turtle, who mouthed 'sorry' in reply.

"If the journal brought us here at first, it should bring us back home," Donne thought aloud. "Do you still have the journal, Mikey?"

Mikey bit his lip. "I- I kinda dropped it when we were in that wind thing..."

"_**MIKEY**! YOU LOST OUR **ONLY** WAY HOME!_?!" Raph shouted. He smacked Mikey on the head hard.

"Ow! Sorry..." Mikey said, looking down.

"Well, there could be other ways to get home," Donnie said thoughtfully.

"Alright then," Leo said. "We don't know how long we'll be staying here, so we should gather food, water, and other supplies..." He began to give out orders. The other turtles obeyed, wondering when and how they would go back to New York City...


	4. Missing and Found, Sort Of

Master Splinter panicked. His sons weren't home yet, and it was past midnight. The only reason they didn't come back then was if they were in trouble. They weren't even answering the calls he made or the text messages he sent. Maybe their T-Phones ran out of battery, but it didn't seem like it.

Splinter decided to all April and Casey, his human friends; perhaps they could help.

He dialed April's number. "Hello? Master Splinter?" A sleepy voice was heard.

"April, do you know where the turtles are?" Splinter asked worriedly.

"No, why?" April said, only half awake.

"They're missing," Splinter answered. "They haven't returned to the lair and it's past midnight!"

April glanced at her clock. It was 3:16 in the morning, so this was pretty serious.

"Don't worry, I'll be right there. I'll call Casey too," April said as she hung up. She hurriedly dressed herself and brought a flashlight and her phone. Her friends were missing and she had to find them.

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><p>"Red?" Casey asked, recognizing the voice. "Why are you up so early?" He asked, yawning.<p>

"Casey, the guys are missing! We have to find them!" April said worriedly.

"'Kay, I'll be right there," Casey said, walking out of his bed. He changed out of his pajamas, grabbed his mask and bag of sports equipment, and hurried to the lair.

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><p>Minutes later, the redheaded teenager along with an overconfident black-haired boy entered the lair.<p>

"What should we do, Master Splinter?" April asked. "Did you call them? Text them? Track them?"

Master Splinter nodded at first two questions and shook his head at the last one. "I tried tracking them, but it says 'error'," he said sadly, showing what it said on Donatello's computer.

April frowned. "'Error'? Why would it say that?"

"I am unsure of that," Master Splinter said. "But we can still search New York City. They must still be in this city somewhere."

April and Casey nodded. "Are you coming with us?" Casey asked.

Master Splinter shook his head. "I will try to meditate to see if I can talk to their spirits. Maybe we can figure where they are and save them."

"If they're alive," Casey added. April smacked him on the head. "OW! Oops, sorry," Casey said, sending Splinter a sheepish smile before he and April left the lair.

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><p>Splinter meditated in the dojo, searching for signs if his sons were alive. The spiritual realm was very beautiful, since Splinter had a pure soul; it contained blossoming trees, sparkling rivers, lush, healthy plants, and colorful flowers. The spiritual realm could be horrible, filled with one's worst fears if heshe had a dark soul.

Splinter saw a faint, blue light from the right side of him. He was filled with hope. Could it be one of his sons?

Splinter turned and walked towards his right the blue light becoming stronger and stronger. What he saw made him burst with happiness.

It was his oldest son, Leonardo.

"Leonardo!" Splinter called.

Leonardo, who had been closing his eyes and sitting in the position for meditating, opened his eyes. "Master Splinter?"

The two hugged for a few minutes. Then Splinter asked, "Where are you? Why are you not home yet?"

Leo looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry Sensei! We're all safe, for now. What happened was, we were fighting the Foot. We defeated them, and they left. Mikey found a journal, which transported us to some kind of story book. We're currently trying to get ready for the night and what might come, since we have to find the journal or another way out of here."

"I see," Splinter said, understanding the dilemma. "I don't think there is a way for me to come. Be careful. Watch over your brothers; do not let any harm fall onto them. Or you," Splinter said, looking at Leo in the eye.

Leo nodded and bowed. "Yes, Sensei."

The figure of Leonardo faded away, meaning Leo had stopped meditating. Splinter sighed as he opened his eyes, exiting the spiritual realm.

He was happy that his sons were safe, but sad that they couldn't come back home yet. But he knew that Leonardo would keep them safe. He was their older brother and a true leader, after all. They would come home soon, safe and unharmed.

Or would they?

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><p><strong>AN: Some of you may be disappointed on why this chapter isn't about the turtles in the story book. I had to write what the others (Splinter, April, Casey) were doing while the turtles were gone though. **


	5. Dinosaur

**Leo's POV**

"Did ya talk ta Splinter?" my hotheaded brother asked me. I opened my eyes and stood up.

"Yes, I did. I told him where we were and that we were safe," I responded.

Raph muttered something, but I didn't understand what he said. I shrugged it off.

"Did you guys find food and everything?"

"Yeah," Raph answered absentmindedly.

I saw that he wasn't paying attention and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Raph, if you ever want to talk about something, I'm always here."

To my surprise, Raph didn't shake off my hand. Instead, he said, "What if we don't?"

"What if we don't what?" I asked, confused.

Raph looked away. He didn't say anything for a few moments.

Raph sighed and said, "What if we don't find a way home?"

That was my worst fear. Failing my brothers, failing sensei, but most importantly, failing myself.

I couldn't let that happen.

"Raph, we _will_ find a way home," I said, trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince him. Luckily, he didn't notice.

"How do you know?" Raph asked, still not looking at me.

I paused. How_ did_ I know?

Then it hit me.

I didn't _know_. I _thought_.

I only _thought_ we would be able to go home.

"Leo?"

I couldn't fail. Never again. But what if we never came home?

"_LEONARDO_!"

At the sound of my full name, I whipped around, finding a concerned Raph looking at me.

"You okay? I've been callin' your name for five minutes now," Raph said.

"Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine! I- I just need a little rest," I lied. I was a terrible liar, so I knew Raph suspected me. He didn't ask anything, though I knew he would keep an extra eye on me.

"We got everything!" I heard Mikey say. He and Donnie had gathered some berries and more of the healing water we'd seen earlier.

"Ya sure there berries aren't poisonous?" Raph asked as he examined the berries.

Donnie shook his head. "Nope, I already checked. They're just normal raspberries,"

We feasted on raspberries and drank the pizza-flavored water. We saved some food and water, just in case.

"Time to sleep," I said. I had already noticed how dark it was outside the cave. "We need our strength for tomorrow.

"Aww..." Mikey whined. But soon, we had all fallen asleep, weary from the day's incidents.

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><p>I woke up early the next day. I saw my brothers already awake, eating the remains from yesterday's meal.<p>

"So what do we do today, Fearless?" Raph asked me.

"Look for the journal or another way home," I answered. The others nodded.

Once we were done eating, we walked outside. Nothing had changed, except for a few huge footsteps from the giant yesterday and some dried blood spots from our fight with the fake Shredder.

We walked, searching for any clues of the journal or a portal that lead the way home. Before I knew it, it was noon. We hadn't found anything yet, though.

"Can we have a break?" Mikey asked.

"Sure," I said. We had a break, gathering more raspberries and water.

I was about to plop another raspberry in my mouth when I felt something cling onto my shoulders. I looked up and froze with terror.

It was a dinosaur, the kind that had wings and flew.

The dinosaur lifted me up as it flew into the sky.


	6. Safe and Sound, For Now

**A/N: It's almost been a week since I last updated this D: Sorry! I have school and I was mostly working on my other story. But anyway, here's chapter 6!**

**I don't own TMNT!**

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><p><strong>Leo's POV<strong>

I tried not to look down, but that was impossible. When I did look down, my hands started sweating and I could feel myself shaking. I had always had this paralyzing fear of heights that I usually pushed at the back of my mind, but I couldn't do it now. I had never been_ this_ high before...

A plan suddenly came to me. I reached for my katana and sliced one of the dinosaur's feet with it. The dinosaur screeched in pain and let go of me as blood began to come out of its injury.

I was in midair, falling. I squeezed my eyes shut and reached for my grappling hook. (A ninja always comes prepared!) Then I swung it at a nearby tree. The hook caught onto a branch and I held onto the other side of the grappling hook, my eyes still closed.

I didn't open my eyes till I was sure I had stopped falling. I sighed with relief as I saw I was safe. I jumped down from the tree and took the hook off of the branch. I then kept my grappling hook in my belt. It had never been useful until now, so I decided to keep it with me at all times, just in case.

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><p>Raph, Donnie, and Mikey watched in awe as Leo used his katana and grappling hook to save himself. They ran over to him, relieved that he was safe.<p>

"I'm okay, Donnie," Leo assured. Donnie still wanted to look over him, but Leo refused. "I'm _fine_," he insisted. Donnie finally let him be.

"We didn't find_ anything_," Raph groaned. "This is all Mikey's fault-"

"Guys." Leo interrupted. "There's no use in blaming each other. We don't know how big this place is. I think we still have a lot of other places we can look in. Right, Donnie?"

"Yes. From what I know, all the story books ever made are in this land! There's probably miles and miles of different story books in here! It could take forever to look for the journal or a portal..." Donnie trailed off.

"Guys. Look at me." Donnie, Mikey, and Raph looked up at Leo. "We _will_ find a way home, no matter how long it takes. Got that?"

They all nodded. "That's why I call you 'Fearless'," Raph smirked.

Leo just frowned. He _wasn't_ fearless. In fact, he was just as worried as them, maybe even more. He just never showed his emotions, so nobody would think he was weak, although that was what he really was.

"Maybe we should find a place with lots of portals," Mikey spoke up.

"You know what? That's not a bad idea," Donnie commented. "We just have to find a place like that..."

"Well then, let's go!" Leo said as they headed off to look for a way back to New York City.

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><p>The Shredder stared into the book he was reading, called '<em>Adventures of the Turtles<em>'. The turtles didn't know, but the Shredder had managed to find a way to read what they did and planned in the story book land!

_So those pathetic fools really think they can find a land with portals to go home? How stupid! _he thought to himself.

"Stockman!" the Shredder called.

"Y-yes, Master Shredder?" Baxter Stockman answered nervously. He was always nervous around the Shredder, after all, he had been mutated into a fly once and didn't want that happening again!

"Find me a way to get into the story book. I want to show those fools that they can _never_ return," the Shredder ordered.

"Master, you can simply use the journal they dropped on the rooftops the other night. It's the fastest way," Baxter Stockman said, handing Shredder the small, brown book.

The Shredder opened the journal, slowly flipping the pages until he reached the last page, which was the drawing. He frowned. "This drawing almost looks like-"

Baxter Stockman quickly stepped out of the way as a howling wind engulfed the Shredder, whisking him out of the Foot headquarters.

Baxter Stockman scratched his head. "What a weird dream," he said as he went back to his lab.

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><p>The Shredder stepped out of the wind and found himself in a desert with many plants. He looked around for any signs of the turtles.<p>

_What's this?_ he wondered as he examined some imprints in the sand. They had only three toes, they were definitely the turtles' footprints!

The Shredder followed the footprints until he saw a cave. He peeked inside, but there was no turtles.

He walked out of the cave, looking for more clues of where the turtles could be. So busy he was in following the footprints that he didn't notice the figure stalking him until it roared.

The Shredder turned around, alarmed, only to discover that he was surrounded by carnivorous dinosaurs.

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><p><strong>AN: I'll try to update sooner next time!**


	7. Back Home

**I don't own TMNT. **

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><p>The Shredder grabbed his gauntlet and sliced at the dinosaur's leg. It roared in pain and growled at the Shredder, who simply sliced the dinosaur again, this time in its stomach.<p>

The dinosaur fell down with another roar of pain. Blood was pooling out its wounds.

The Shredder hastily put on his gauntlet and ran from the dinosaurs, following the three-toed footprints. He walked and walked until he became exhausted, which turned out to be hours.

The Shredder found a pond of water and eagerly drank some. To his surprise, it tasted like pizza and seemed to restore his strength immediately.

The Shredder cocked his head to one side, wondering what kind of water it was. He wished Baxter Stockman had come along; maybe he could help. But it was too late now.

He took a water bottle and filled it with the strange water. Then he continued to follow the footprints.

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><p>The turtles stopped at a huge stone with strange symbols engraved on it. They had been looking for a way home for hours, but none of them had seen anything helpful.<p>

"What do we do now?" Raph asked, twirling his sai like he usually did when he was bored. Or when he was about to fight someone.

Leo said, "Let's take a break and head back to the cave. Maybe we should continue looking tomorrow. It is almost night, anyway."

Raph looked up and saw that the sun was almost finished setting. _Guess Fearless is right_, he thought.

"'Kay, guys, let's go," Raph said. Leo and Mikey got up and started to walk, but Donnie stayed near the stone.

"Come on, brainiac," Raph said. Donnie didn't budge.

"Earth to Donnie!" Mikey said, waving a hand in front of the purple banded turtle's face.

Donnie gently pushed the hand away. "Wait, I need to see this."

"What is it, Don?" Leo asked.

"These symbols kind of look like the symbols on the TCRI building," Donnie explained. "They might be a clue to our way home."

Donnie pressed on the symbols in a specific order. Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook.

"What's happening?" Mikey asked, clearly terrified. He clung onto Raph for comfort, who grumbled, "Get off of me, shell-for-brains!"

"I don't know," Donnie admitted. "Maybe it's-"

He was cut off when the ground collapsed. All of the turtles screamed.

The turtles landed on a slippery marble floor. They all got up, surveying their surroundings.

"This kind of reminds me of the TCRI building," Leo remarked. The other turtles nodded in agreement.

Donnie said, "Follow me." He walked to an elevator and pressed on a button that said, "Up." The elevator opened and Donnie walked in.

The other turtles followed. Donnie pressed on another button that looked like the symbol on the TCRI building. The elevator shot up.

The elevator finally stopped in a room.

"Dudes, I think I'm gonna-" Mikey said sickly.

"Don't do it on _me_," Raph said. Mikey turned around and hurled in a garbage can.

Donnie walked forward and gazed at the room. It was more like a long hallway filled with purplish-pinkish portals.

"Our way home," Leo breathed.

Donnie nodded and walked 14 spaces forward, 25 to the left, and finally, 3 to the right. "Here's our way home."

The turtles peered inside of the portal. They could see the bustling streets of New York City, right there.

Raph said, "What are waiting for? Let's g-"

"_Turtles_!"

The turtles spun around, only to find the Shredder right there, grinning evilly.

"So we meet again!" he said, but he seemed to be talking to Mikey only. He raised his gauntlet.

"Mikey, GO!" Leo yelled and pushed Mikey towards the portal.

"But Leo-" Mikey began.

"Go. I'll come after," Leo said. Mikey nodded sadly and walked through the portal.

Before the Shredder could move, Raph knocked off Shredder's helmet. "Do it," he said, nodding to Leo.

Leo took a deep breath and sliced his katana, cutting off the Shredder's head. He looked away and said to his brothers, "Let's go."

They walked through the portal. It engulfed them, spinning them around and around until they finally landed on something hard with a _thump_.

"I knew you'd come back!" Mikey said, hugging his brothers. When he finally let go, they realized that they were on the same rooftop Mikey had found the journal on.

"We're home," Leo said, relieved. "We're finally home."

"C'mon guys, let's go back to the sewers," Donnie said.

"Hey Donnie, how did you know where to find the portal?" Raph asked.

Donnie looked troubled. "I- I don't know! It just came to me somehow, but I honestly don't know_ how_."

"Guys, let's go home! I'm starving!" Mikey said. His stomach rumbled as if to prove his point.

The others laughed as they climbed down the building and crawled into the sewers.

"Let's go get some pizza!" Raph said.

"YES!" Mikey exclaimed, running to their home.

Leo caught up to him. "One more thing, Mikey," he said.

"What?" Mikey asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Leo smirked and said, "Don't pick up anything from the Foot _again_!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: That's the end! :)**


End file.
